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Greg Monroe’s Restricted Free Agency Looming

Big decisions are coming from all angles for the Detroit Pistons this off-season. No doubt one of the biggest will be whether or not they will be able to retain big man Greg Monroe.

Monroe had a rock solid season for the Detroit Pistons this year. The fourth year pro from Georgetown played in every game for the Pistons this season, and should be in their long term plans, if they can retain him. Monroe almost averaged a double-double and was a consistent performer on a dysfunctional team.

Monroe is going into the off-season as a restricted free agent. Basically, this means that he will be free to negotiate and sign with any team. The catch is the Pistons can retain Monroe by matching any offer that he signs from another team. Once Monroe signs, the Pistons have three days to decide if they should match the offer. The problem is that in free agency, sometimes a desperate team will knowingly overpay market value for a player. Only time will tell if Monroe will hit that sort of jackpot by acquiring a “Max” deal.

Reports say that Monroe and his agent will be looking for something in the 4 year 60 million range, which would really put the heat on the Pistons. Detroit would then need to decide if they believe Monroe is a max player. After handing out a monster deal to Josh Smith, and knowing Andre Drummond will need a huge extension soon, it could be tough to give that type of money to Monroe. The previous Pistons front office had said they would match any deal for Monroe, but with a new regime coming to town, this will be another tough decision they have to make right away.

If the Pistons decide they don’t want to match an offer Monroe receives, they will most likely try to work a sign and trade. This means they would agree on a deal with Monroe before sending him to another team so they could get some form of compensation for one of their better players. It would be absolutely brutal to lose Monroe for absolutely nothing in free agency. That’s why many thought Monroe would be traded at the deadline, but that simply wasn’t the case, as the Pistons were planning on retaining the big man.

The Monroe situation is definitely a complicated one, and we will all be in wait-and-see mode once the free agency period officially begins.